The Elf On The Shelf

I saw this cute little "Elf On The Shelf" book a couple years ago, but didn't want to spend the $40 for it. Well I splurged this year, and let me tell you it was worth every penny!
This little elf appears in December and watches to make sure that your kids are behaving. The rule is that you cannot touch the elf or it will lose its magic. Every night the little elf goes to the North Pole to give Santa a report on the childrens behavior, and then comes back and hides in a different spot every day. It comes with a very cute book. Carter was so ecstatic to find this! He said " I wonder why he didn't come last year." The cool thing is, it is already working and making him think twice about his behavior. I laid out his clothes for school and as he was putting them on he said " Mom, this shirt has a skull on it, I don't know if Santa likes skulls." I thought it was pretty funny. He is already excited to wake up tomorrow morning and find where the elf has hidden. What a cute little idea, and I'm sure it will be a fun tradition for many years to come!

Thanksgiving Festivities

We had a really fun Thanksgiving Holiday this year! The original plan was that we would get together with Bryans family on Thanksgiving and then my family on Friday. But Russ and Emily couldn't make it down until later, so we ended up going to our friends Stacy and Mikes house for Thanksgiving dinner and then had Bryans family over on Saturday instead. So our Thanksgiving day was pretty low key which was nice. We took the kids to see Tangled which was a cute movie.

Hai getting ready for her meal at Stacy and Mike's.

Hayden, Carter and Hailey

Friday

I tried to get a picture of the whole gang, but it didn't work so well! Here's about half of the family looking at the camera, enjoying our meal at my mom and dads house.

While the girls were preparing dinner, the boys went over to the church to play some Basketball. Carter and Kai had more fun playing under the stage.

My Cute Guy ( I think this might be the first time I've seen a basketball in his hands!) Bry is not a big sports fan. I'm kinda glad because I really would never seen him if he was. He is into about everything else possible, so there wouldn't be time for sports!

Little Bryan, Glen and Nic playing a little B-Ball.

After dinner I joined the cute girlies for a little tea party and memory game. They had me playing house and acting as the Dad. I had so much fun hanging out with them, they are so stinkin adorable!

Carter and Kai doing some fun art projects. These boys are both very creative, imaginative little guys, and love hanging out together.

As everybody was trying to get home, we walked into this......Bryan getting attacked by all of the kids. Bryan is always good to get down and play with the kids, they all love him as you can see!

Saturday

Hailey asked me to put olives on her fingers. I don't know where she picked this up from, but it's amazing how fast they pick things up!



On Saturday we did Thanksgiving at our house with Bryans family. Russ and Emily stayed with us for a few days. Carter and Jack had a good time playing and I honestly don't remember one fight. They pretty much entertained each other the whole weekend which was nice. This was my first year doing Thanksgiving, and sadly I didn't go as well as I hoped! I made the mistake of trying two new recipes without Testing them beforehand, and they didn't turn out so well! Good thing Emily brought her scrumptious rolls and Grammy her Sweet Potato Pie! Now I know for next year to do a trial run!

Sharing with Auntie Em

Grammy helped the kids with a turkey craft. My kids love doing crafts so they were all into it. Jack on the other hand was entertained for about 4 minutes and then was ready to move on. It was hilarious hearing Grammy "make" Jack put eyes on his turkey when he really could care less!

First SnoW!

The kids were of course excited when the first snow fall of the year came! They got all bundled up and went out to play. There wasn't much on the ground yet, but that didn't stop them! They stayed busy for at least 20 minutes just scraping snow off the grass and eating it......you would think they were starving or something!

Hailey Getting Beautified

Hailey has been paying a lot of attention to my earrings lately, so I decided that I would get her ears pierced with the moral support of Auntie Em and Grammy. I have been wanting to do it for awhile, but didn't want to inflict pain on my princess! Grammy wanted to go and get a second hole in her ears, so I thought I would go for it! Hailey was super excited about it. This is her getting her dots put on and having no idea the trauma that was about to come!

She gave us this little crusty face for about 3 minutes afterwards, but after that, was happy again! I felt soooo bad inflicting pain, but really it only lasted a couple minutes and I'm glad we did it. She looks so adorable with them, and she loved showing them off afterwards to Daddy and Papa!

Halloween

My cute little Witch! This is Hailey singing the "Clean Up Song" as she sweeps with her witch's broom.........she is too adorable!

Witch with Attitude!

Carter all set for the action

I took the kids to Grammy's church for a fun Halloween Carnival. They had Games, Pony Rides, Food, and a Pie Contest. Grammy's pie didn't make it this year, but maybe next year :) She does make scrumptious pies!

More Posing, this ended up in the wrong spot....oops!

Once Hailey got some candy in her bucket, she didn't care about the games. Here she is happily sitting on Papa's lap sneaking a tootsie roll. What can I say......my kids have a sweet tooth, not sure where they got that from :)

After the carnival, we stopped by my parents house to show them the kids costumes, then headed back home for some trick or treating. I took the kids around the block, and then let Bryan take Carter and his friend Hayden a little further. It was raining pretty good, and we were soaked! It was fun watching Hailey get excited about running from house to house as soon as she discovered the good treats that were in store!

Gettin Our Spook On

We have all been sick with the flu over the past couple weeks, so we didn't get to do some of the things we would have liked to for Halloween, but we did get Pumpkins Carved and Cookies Made!

We made Carter scoop out his own guts this year!

Family Pictures 2010